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spring

spring

I've pretty much finished the latest book from the guys at Tall Timbers and I think they really done it well once again. They have accumulated their insight from their years of research into quail management and it's all in here, from habit management, to trapping, to feeding, to hunting pressure, and pretty much everything in between.

Their basic focus is doing what it takes to grow a bird population through increasing survival rates, which in turn increases nesting, and then later, covey counts. The old methods of growing food plots to feed existing polulations is largely put aside. I can tell that you that I'll be doing a lot of things differently on my place after reading this, much of which could well prove to be simpler and more cost effective than some of my management practices to date.

If you manage properties for bobwhite quail, getting this latest book is a must.

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spring

spring

Do you think this information translate well outside of the southeast?

Their research is based upon an almost unlimited budget through the years in the Albany Quail Research Project, later combined with the efforts at Tall Timbers. While there's no doubt the focus is on the piney woods plantations of SW Georgia, I'm sure many of the concepts would be useful in other regions.

They focus a lot on the importance of keeping timber stands at lower basal areas, specifically showing the covey counts found from higher to lower tree concentrations. Of course this simply illustrates the importance of allowing sunlight to get to the forest floor, allowing more ground cover for the benefit of quail. In some parts of the country, the need to reduce timber stands doesn't take a managed effort, but clearly the Stoddard methods of regular burning interspersed with frequent sections retained for nesting can be used in some states, but not others.

Their statistics showing an ideal 15% impact on coveys thru hunting, I'd think would be similar wherever you are. Their ag and land maintenance recommendations could also be helpful in many parts of the country.

I also found it interesting how they felt regular feeding could not only help quail, but increase the number of other species that could be alternative food sources for quail predators.

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spring

spring

Does TT do do any management projects with public land or are they only focused on private properties?

I don't think they generally manage properties for anyone, public of private, outside of Dixie Plantation and their tract south of Thomasville. Basically they do the research and allow land managers elsewhere to implement their findings and recommendations.

They do transplant quail to private lands in some cases, but I believe their minimum acreage for that is 1,500 acres, and the property must already be set up wisely for quail habitat.

Some of their research is done on private lands, but I don't think I'd call it property management.

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mister grouse

mister grouse

Manage is different from Research. Research covers all types of property, and they have taken on quail rehab projects in South Carolina and elsewhere. If you have questions or generally want to learn about Tall Timbers, or just want to see the list of (and content links) their very large number of research projects then take a look at their website: talltimbers.org/